Who live as changelings ever since, More swift than lightning can I fly
For love of your domains.

About this airy welkin soon,

And, in a minute's space, descry At morning and at evening both,

Each thing that'sdone below the moon. You merry were and glad,

There's not a hag So little care of sleep or sloth

Or ghost shall wag, These pretty ladies had;

Or cry, 'ware goblins ! where I go; When Tom came home from labor,

But Robin I Or Cis to milking rose,

Their feasts will spy, Then merrily went their tabor,

And send them hoine with ho, ho, ho ! And nimbly went their toes.

Whene'er such wanderers I meet, Witness those rings and roundelays As from their night-sports they trudge Of theirs, which yet remain,

home, Were footed in Queen Mary's days With counterfeiting voice I greet, On many a grassy plain;

And call them on with me to roam: But since of late Elizabeth,

Through woods, through lakes; And later, James came in,

Through bogs, through brakes; They never danced on any heath

Or else, unseen, with them I go. As when the time hath been.

All in the nick,

To play some trick,
By which we note the fairies

And frolic it, with ho, ho, ho !
Were of the old profession,
Their songs were Ave-Maries,

Sometimes I meet them like a man,
Their dances were procession :

Sometimes an ox, sometimes a hound; But now, alas ! they all are dead,

And to a horse I turn me can, Or gone beyond the seas;

To trip and trot about them round. Or farther for religion fled;

But if to ride Or else they take their ease.

My back they stride,

More swift than wind away I go,
A tell-tale in their company

O'er hedge and lands,
They never could endure,
And whoso kept not secretly

Through pools and ponds,
Their mirth, was punished sure;

I hurry, laughing, ho, ho, ho !
It was a just and Christian deed,
To pinch such black and blue :

When lads and lasses merry be,
O, how the commonwealth doth need

With possets and with junkets fine; Such justices as you !

Unseen of all the company,
I eat their cakes and sip their wine!

And, to make sport,

I puff and short :
UNKNOWN

And out the candles I do blow:

The maids I kiss,

They shriek - Who's this?
(Before 1649 )

I answer naught but ho, ho, ho !
ROBIN GOODFELLOW.

Yet now and then, the maids to please, From Oberon, in fairy-land,

At midnight I card up their wool; The king of ghosts and shadows there, And, while they sleep and take their Mad Robin I, at his command,

ease, Am sent to view the night-sports here. With wheel to threads their flax I pull. What revel rout

I grind at mill
Is kept about,

Their malt up still ;
In every corner where I go,

I dress their hemp; I spin their tow;
I will o'ersee,

If any wake,
And merry be,

And would me take,
And make good sport, with ho, lio, ho ! I wend me, laughing, ho, ho, ho!

If to repay

When any need to borrow aught,

UNKNOWN.
We lend them what they do require :
And for the use demand we naught;

(Before 1649.) Our own is all we do desire.

EDOM O' GORDON.
They do delay,
Abroad amongst them then I go, It fell about the Martinmas,
And night by night,

When the wind blew shrill and cauld,
I them affright,

Said Edom o' Gordon to his men, With pinchings, dreams, and ho, ho, “ We maun draw to a hauld. ho!

"And whatna hauld sall we draw to, When lazy queans have naught to do,

My merry men and me? But study how to cog and lie;

We will gae to the house of the Rodes, To make debate and mischief too,

To see that fair ladye.” 'Twixt one another secretly:

I mark their gloze,
And it disclose

The lady stood on her castle wa',
To them whom they have wrongéd so : There she was aware of a host of men

Beheld baith dale and down;
When I have done
I get me gone,

Came riding towards the town.
And leave them scolding, ho, ho,
ho!

“O see ye not, my merry men a',

O see ye not what I see? When men do traps and engines set

Methinks I see a host of men; In loopholes, where the vermin creep,

I marvel who they be." · Who from their folds and houses get Their ducks and geese, and lambs and She weened it had been her lovely lord, sheep;

As he cam' riding hame;
I spy the gin,

It was the traitor, Edom o' Gordon,
And enter in,

Wha recked nor sin nor shame.
And seem a vernin taken so;
But when they there

She had nae sooner buskit hersell,
Approach me near,

And putten on her gown,
I leap out laughing, ho, ho, ho! Till Edom o' Gordon an' his men

Were round about the town.
By wells and rills, in meadows green,

We nightly dance our heyday guise; And to our fairy king and queen,

They had nae sooner supper set,

Nae sooner said the grace,
We chant our moonlight minstrelsies. But Edom o Gordon an' his men
When larks 'gin sing,

Were lighted about the place.
Away we fling;
And habes new-born steal as we go;
And elf in bed

The lady ran up to her tower-head,
We leave in stead,

As fast as she could hie,
And wend us laughing ho, ho, ho!

To see if by her fair speeches

She could wi' him agrec. From hag-breal Merlin's time, have I

Thus nightly revelled to and fro; " Come doun to me, ye lady gay, And for my pranks men call me by Come doun, come doun to me; The name of Robin Goodfellow. This night sall ye lig within mine arms, Fiends, ghosts, and sprites,

To-morrow my bride sall be.”
Who haunt the nights,
The hags and goblins do me know; “I winna come down, ye fause Gordon,
And beldames oli

I winna come down to thee;
My feats have told,

I winna forsake my ain dear lord,
So vale, vale; ho, ho, ho!

And he is na far frae me."

“Gie owre your house, ve lady fair, But on the point o' Gordon's spear
Gie owre your house to ine;

She gat a deadly fa'.
Or I sall burn yoursell therein,
But and your babies three."

O bonnie, bonnie was her mouth,

And cherry were her cheeks, ** I winna gie owre, ye fause Gordon, And clear, clear was her yellow hair, To nae sic traitor as thee;

Whereon the red blood dreeps.
And if ye burn my ain dear babes,
My lord sall mak' ye dree.

Then wi' his spear he turned her owre;

O gin her face was wan!
“Now reach my pistol, Glaud, my man, He said, “Ye are the first that e'er
And charge ye weel my gun;

I wished alive again."
For, but an I pierce that bluidy butcher,
My babes, we been undone !"

He cam' and lookit again at her ;

O gin her skin was white ! She stood upon her castle wa',

“I might hae spared that bonnie face And let twa bullets flee :

To hae been some man's delight.”
She missed that bluidy butcher's heart,
And only razed his knee.

“Busk and boun, my merry men a',

For ill dooms I do guess : “Set fire to the house !" quo' fause Gordon, I cannot look on that bonnie face Wud wi' dule and ire:

As it lies on the grass." “Fause ladye, ye sall rue that shot

ye
burn in the fire !"

“Wha looks to freits, my master dear,

Its freits will follow them ; “Wae worth, wae worth ye, Jock, my man! Let it ne'er be said that Edom o' Gordon I paid ye weel your fee;

Was daunted by a dame."
Why pu' ye out the grund-wa' stane,
Lets in the reek to me?

But when the ladye saw the fire

Come flaming o'er her head, “And e'en wae worth ye, Jock, my man! She wept, and kissed her children twain, I paid ye weel your hire;

Says, “ Bairns, we been but dead.” Why pu' ye out the grund-wa' stane, To me lets in the tire?"

The Gordon then his bugle blew,

And said, “ Awa', awa'! “Ye paid me weel my hire, ladye, This house o' the Rodes is a' in a flame; Ye paid me weel my fee:

I hauld it time to ga'.”
But now I'm Elom o' Gordon's man,
Maun either do or dee."

And this way lookit her ain dear lord,

As he caine owre the lea; O then bespake her little son,

He saw his castle a' in a lowe,
Sat on the nurse's knee:

Sae far as he could see.
Says, “O) mither dear, gie owre this house,
For the reek it smothers me."

“Put on, put on, my wighty men,

As fast as ye can dri'e! "I wad gie a' my goud, my bairn, For he that's hindmost o' the thrang Sae wad I a' my fee,

Sall ne'er get good o' me."
For ae blast o' the western wind,
To blaw the reek frae thee."

Then some they rade, and some they ran,

Out-owre the grass and bent;
O then bespake her daughter dear, - But ere the foremost could win up,
She was baith jimp and sma':

Baith lady and babes were brent.
“O row' me in a pair o' sheets,
And tow me o'er the wa'!"

And after the Gordon he is gane,

Sae fast as he might dri'e; They row'd her in a pair o'sheets, And soon i' the Gordon's foul heart's blude And tow'd her owre the wa';

He's wroken his fair ladye.

UNKNOWN

If thou wilt prove a good husband,

E'en take thy auld cloak about thee." TAKE THY AULD CLOAK ABOUT THEE.

Bell, my wife, she loves not strife, In winter, when the rain rained caulu, But she will rule me if she can:

And frost and snow were on the hill, And oft, to lead a quiet life, And Boreas with his blasts sae bâuld I'm forced to yield, though I'm gude. Was threat'ning all our kye to kill;

man. Then Bell, my wife, wha loves not strife, It's not for a man with a woman to She said to me right hastilie,

threape. “Get up, gudeman, save Crummie's life, Unless he first give o'er the plea : And take thy auld cloak about thee! As we began so will we leave,

And I'll take my auld cloak about me. “ Cow Crunmie is a useful cow,

And she is come of a good kino;
Aft has she wet the bairnies' mou',

And I am laith that she should pine:
Get up, gudeman, it is fu’ time !

UNKNOWN
The sun shines frae the list sae hie;
sloth never made a gracious end, -

THE BARRING O' THE DOOR.
Gae, take thy auld cloak about thee!"

It fell about the Martinmas time,
- My cloak was once a gude gray cloak, And a gay time it was than,

When it was sitting for my wear; When our gudewife got puddings to
But now it's scantly worth a groat,

make,
For I kae worn 't this thirty year :

And she boiled them in the pan.
Let 's spend the gear that we hue won,

We little ken the day we'll dee; The wind sae cauld blew east and north,
Then I'll be proud, since I hae sworn It blew into the floor:
To hae a new cloak about me." Quoth our gudeman to our gudewife,

“Gae out and bar the door!"
ss In days when our King Robert reigned,

His breeches cost but half a crown; “My hand is in my huswif's kap, He said they were a groat too dear, Gudeman, as ye may see;

And ca'd the tailor thief and loun. An' it should nae be barred this hundred He was the king that wore the crown,

year, And thou the man of low degree : It's no be barred for me." !t 's pride puts a' the country down, Sae take thy auld cloak about thee!” They made a paction 'tween them twa,

They made it firm and sure,
“O Bell, my wife, why dost thou flout? That the first word whae'er should speak
Now is now, and then was then.

Should rise and bar the door.
Seek anywhere the world throughout,
Thou ken’st not clowns from gentle. Then by there came twa gentlemen

At twelve o'clock at night ;
They are clad in black, green, yellow, And they could neither see house nor

hall, Sae far above their ain degree:

Nor coal nor candle light. Once in my life I'll do as they, For I'll have a new cloak about me.” And first they ate the white puddings,

And then they ate the black; “Gudeman, I wot it's thirty year Though muckle thought the gudewife to Sin' we did ane anither ken,

hersel, And we hae had atween us twa

Yet ne'er a word she spak”.
Of lads and bonnie lasses ten ;
Now they are women grown and men, Then said the one into the other,

I wish and pray weel may they be: “Here, man, tak' ye my knife!

men.

and gray,